Liver cancer statistics

Liver cancer is the 6th most common cancer worldwide.

Latest liver cancer data

Liver cancer is the 6th most common cancer worldwide. It is the 5th most common cancer in men and the 9th most common cancer in women.

There were more than 900,000 new cases of liver cancer in 2020.

The 10 countries with the highest rates of liver cancer and the highest number of deaths from liver cancer in 2020 are shown in the tables below.

ASR = age-standardised rates. These are a summary measure of the rate of disease that a population would have if it had a standard age structure. Standardisation is necessary when comparing populations that differ with respect to age because age has a powerful influence on the risk of dying from cancer.

Liver cancer rates

The following 3 tables show total global cancer incidence and rates in 2020, followed by the figures for men and women. Mongolia had the highest overall rate of liver cancer in 2020, followed by Egypt.

RankCountryNumberASR/100,000
World905,6779.5
1Mongolia2,23685.6
2Egypt27,89534.1
3Laos1,27224.4
4Cambodia3,14224.3
5Vietnam26,41823.0
6Thailand27,39422.6
7Guinea1,41221.8
8China410,03818.2
9The Gambia25417.2
10Ghana3,45216.9
Rank (men)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World632,32014.1
1Mongolia1,279106.0
2Egypt18,14545.9
3Vietnam20,25638.0
4Cambodia2,08037.6
5Laos88835.7
6Thailand18,26833.8
7Guinea73928.8
8China302,59827.6
9The Gambia19627.2
10Guam2624.4
Rank (women)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World273,3575.2
1Mongolia95768.4
2Egypt9,75022.7
3Guinea67317.2
4Guatemala1,01714.6
5Cambodia1,06214.5
6Laos38414.2
7Thailand9,12612.9
8Guinea Bissau6912.8
9Liberia17811.5
10Papua New Guinea31110.2

Liver cancer deaths

The following 3 tables show total global liver cancer mortality in 2020, followed by the figures for men and women.Mongolia had the highest overall mortality rate from liver cancer in 2020, followed by Egypt.

RankCountryNumberASR/100,000
World830,1808.7
1Mongolia2,06080.6
2Egypt26,52332.5
3Cambodia2,94622.9
4Laos1,19222.9
5Thailand26,70421.9
6Vietnam25,27221.9
7Guinea1,40421.6
8China391,15217.2
9The Gambia24616.8
10Guinea Bissau16016.3
Rank (men)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World577,52212.9
1Mongolia1,187101.9
2Egypt17,21143.7
3Vietnam19,42036.3
4Cambodia1,95235.6
5Laos83333.6
6Thailand17,89533.0
7Guinea73528.6
8The Gambia18926.6
9China288,12726.1
10Ghana2,25822.8
Rank (women)CountryNumberASR/100,000
World252,6584.8
1Mongolia87363.2
2Egypt9,31221.7
3Guinea66917.1
4Guatemala97414.0
5Cambodia99413.6
6Laos35913.3
7Guinea Bissau6912.8
8Thailand8,80912.3
9Liberia17811.5
10Papua New Guinea30310.2

What causes liver cancer?

There is evidence that the following are associated with an increased risk of liver cancer: cirrhosis, chronic viral hepatitis, infestation of liver flukes, long-term use of oral contraceptives containing high doses of oestrogen and progesterone, and smoking.

There is also strong evidence that:

There is some evidence that:

> Read more about what can cause and what can protect against liver cancer

Notes

The data on this page comes from the Global Cancer Observatory, owned by the World Health Organization/International Agency for Research on Cancer, and is used with permission. The cancer incidence figures and ASRs were compiled using the data available here (last accessed 23 March 2022). For queries about our cancer statistics please email the Research Interpretation team: ri@wcrf.org.